CDC Consulting Partnershttps://corporateauthenticity.net
The path to corporate authenticityWed, 09 May 2018 01:40:34 +0000enhourly1Authentic Personal Branding in the workplacehttps://corporateauthenticity.net/authentic-personal-branding-in-the-workplace/
https://corporateauthenticity.net/authentic-personal-branding-in-the-workplace/#commentsTue, 09 Feb 2016 19:28:35 +0000http://corporateauthenticity.net/?p=257When you think of “Coca-Cola”, what comes immediately to mind?… A sense of thirst, a refreshing beverage,a red can, a huge corporation? … and when you think of a “Ferrari” what do you think of?… Speed, Money, Success? The Brand?

What about people, can people be brands?

When you think of Mahatma Gandhi, how does it impact you? Purpose? Vision? Strength? Stand up for a cause? Freedom?…
Or when you think of Oprah Winfrey? … Support? Power? Leadership?

The question is: can people be brands?…The answer is yes, they can! Personal branding is not just for celebrities, it is for all of us.

We have little doubt about what the people above evokes in us. Do you know why? It is because they have a strong and well defined personal brand. Their beliefs and their authenticity are very natural in themselves and easily perceived by others. They align their behavior to their strengths and as well as to what they believe in, what they value in life. That is strong personal branding!

What about you? What is your personal brand?! How do you perceive yourself and how are you perceived by others?
If you have more clarity about yourself you will be better understood by others and that leverages your identity. Who you are is what people remember about you,and that is vital to get a better position at work or to have more people buying your products or demanding your services for your uniqueness…

So, is it wrong to pay attention to how you look at yourself and how you are perceived by others? Are you letting that influence your behavior?
What do you know about yourself? About your uniqueness? Yes! Each and everyone of us are unique and we can leverage our uniqueness by knowing and accepting who we are. Seeing yourself as your authentic brand and acting as a authentic brand leverages your personal resources.

So what is our Authentic Personal Brand? It is a combination of our strengths, our passions, our values, our gifts and our purpose in life.

When your natural behavior aligns with your values, your passion and your purpose you become authentic to yourself and perceived as authentic by others and that builds trust and loyalty.

In the Harvard Business Review of January, our attention was drawn to the article by Herminia Ibarra called ‘The Authenticity Paradox’. As practitioners in the field of leadership development we have an extensive experience with the topic of authentic leadership, or ‘connecting with yourself’ as we like to call it. Moreover, we have conducted extensive research and studied relevant literature to understand the core of authenticity and the way it can help leaders to become more effective. The first statement in the article that “authenticity can hinder your growth and limit your impact” made us curious and after reading the whole article there was no doubt about it– we had to react.
The argumentation of Ibarra is carried by the example of Cynthia; an ambitious woman who gets promoted into a senior management function. Being a firm believer in being an authentic leader, she shares her uncertainties with her colleagues. This is seen as weakness and her promotion results in failure. Conclusion; she should have faked strength and decisiveness to become effective in her new leadership role.
Definition of authenticity
First of all, what is authenticity? The article by Ibarra lacks a clear definition of authenticity. Without a clear definition, it is very difficult to define – if not impossible – to judge if it is an effective leadership style or not.
In literature there are multiple definitions of authentic leadership. However, the majority of these definitions share a specific set of elements. These core elements are;

– Self-awareness: Authentic leaders have high self-awareness. They know their strengths and weaknesses and know their impact on other people
– Transparency/honesty: Authentic leaders tend to be open and honest about their thoughts and feelings and by doing so, building trustful relations
– Guided by values: Authentic leaders let their moral standards and values guide behaviour instead of ego and/or hierarchy or power
– Open to others: Authentic leaders are open to views of others before they make decisions, getting buy-in and engaging their employees on the final decisions that are taken

Basing ourselves upon this research, we define authenticity as the level of insight in your own talents and weaknesses, combined with the capability to interact with your surroundings based on these insights. The level of self-knowledge – which we like to call connection with yourself – can be raised by interacting with others; by remaining open and honest about yourself and others, by giving and receiving honest feedback, by setting personal growth targets, etc. (Duttom et al. 2003). Being strongly connected with yourself will enable you much better to design a professional habitat in which your talents can flourish. Of course, insights in your weaknesses – and the capability to communicate them to others – also means it will be much easier to organise help (Samhoud et al. 2012).
Authenticity is a process; a journey if you want and not an end state. Being authentic has nothing to do with an unchanging core; an essence that is static and vulnerable to a dynamic world. It also doesn’t mean that you have to be naïve. On the contrary; you can be highly strategic as well as an authentic leader. As any strategists will agree to, it is crucial in any challenge to know your strengths and weaknesses.
Truly authentic means to learn – to develop yourself and adapt to new situations while staying connected to your core.
Authentic leadership and effectiveness
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of authentic leadership, and the outcomes are very promising. Research shows authentic leadership leads to higher optimal levels of self-esteem, higher levels of psychological well-being, enhanced feelings of friendliness, elevated performance (Grandey et al. 2005), follower emotions and follower performance (Peterson et al. 2012), and supervisor rated performance (Walumba et al. 2008).

In our own research amongst numerous teams and their leaders of different companies, we also found the same positive effects of authentic leadership on team performance, individual performance and organisational citizenship behaviour – a measure for the willingness of an employee to do extra work outside of his or her formal job description, which is widely known to be an indicator for performance.
If we look at our own experiences facilitating leadership programs at different companies, in different countries and on different levels in the organisation, we have various examples where we see that connecting with yourself as a leader has a positive effect on the performance of the leader. Of course, there are local differences, and differences between strategic or operational leaders or between young leaders and very experienced ones. But it is striking that the topic of authenticity is recognised and highly appreciated by all types of participants.
So what about the paradox?
Our definition of authenticity seems to neutralise the paradox. Being authentic can actually be very effective. Authenticity is not about being utterly transparent or unwilling to change or an excuse for ‘sticking with what’s comfortable’. It is knowing what you are good at and what your weaknesses are. By developing these insights, you can develop knowledge and connection with yourself which will result in better decisions and more durable relationships. Instead of staying in your comfort zone, this personal development is about taking risks and entering challenging and uncomfortable situations but without faking that you’re better or different than you actually are.
So let’s return to Cynthia. She reflected on her own situation by saying “Being authentic doesn’t mean that you can be held up to the light and people can see right through you.” But that was how she interpreted being an authentic leader. And instead of building trust, it made people question her ability as a leader. So in our opinion, what would an effective authentic leader have done?
When Cynthia “felt a little shaky” getting a promotion to a general management position she could have acted in a very authentic but more effective and less rigid way than she did. By admitting her uncertainty and realising that this is something to work on in a new role, she should have looked for a senior colleague or (external) coach that could have helped her in her first few months as a leader. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and acting upon it in an effective matter – without pretending to be something you are not – that is the core of being an authentic leader.

]]>https://corporateauthenticity.net/the-authenticity-paradox/feed/0SMALL businesses can have BIG business ownershttps://corporateauthenticity.net/small-businesses-can-have-big-business-owners/
https://corporateauthenticity.net/small-businesses-can-have-big-business-owners/#commentsFri, 19 Dec 2014 02:34:13 +0000http://corporateauthenticity.net/?p=249I am originally from Europe, Portugal living now in the US. Back home, most entrepreneurs when deciding to open a small business, they have in mind creating their own job and a job for their very close relatives, get good money out of the business every month and not having a boss telling them what to do…The problem is they work and work and work finding themselves complaining that the money is never enough…they hardly see their children… or even go on vacations with their family.

Back there I had this idea that in the US everything would be very different… entrepreneurs would open their small businesses focusing on their Client, systemizing their processes, doing great marketing on their uniqueness…in other words building their business very sexy to sell to others and make great return out of it.

I was wrong! The truth is, small businesses are not that different from the ones in Portugal after all… in fact we see entrepreneurs seeking for a “fast miracle”… they built a business their own way, invested very little in innovation or differentiation, don´t have a clear and objective strategy for year or quarter to come, don´t think about growing beyond what they can control, don´t have systematized processes and even worst… they stopped investing in themselves, in getting educated and supported to be accountable, saying it is expensive and they don´t have any free time to do it because they are too busy working IN their businesses… what they have in fact is a high demanding not well paid job and they are their own bad boss… We are living times of absolute speed in business and the impact of technology or regulation can get you out of the market in a glance… business owners need to understand how consumers are buying and getting information about products, places… they need to know how to align their business with what´s going on, discover their niche and adjust their trajectory as fast as they can.

I believe that, never as before, each small business should have a Coach. It can really make the difference.

Who you are, what you hold dear, what upsets you, and what underlies your decisions are all connected to your personal values.

Our values reflect what is important to us. They are a shorthand way of describing our individual motivations. Together with our beliefs, they are the causal factors that drive our decision-making.

Understanding our values helps us to understand why we may act or react the way we do. Living your values can make you feel balanced. In contrast, going against your values may make you feel as though you are not being true to yourself.

I invite you to use the link below and do the assessment on your Personal Values. The personal values assessment is a simple survey that takes just a few minutes of your time and provides a wealth of information and exercises in the report to help you understand your values.

Now that you have done the assessment and know better who you are today, what your personal values are, can you also see them in your business? The product or service you provide, the way you treat your customers, your employees, your suppliers, the money you get out of your business every month and year, the free time you have to spend with your family, friends and to do the things you like in life… is all aligned to who you are today, to what you value?

If this is the case, great!

If it is otherwise and you are struggling on an everyday basis, it is time to step back and work your way in order to get your business to meet your personal values.

CDC Consulting Partners/2014

]]>https://corporateauthenticity.net/do-your-personal-values-reflect-your-business/feed/0What questions are you asking yourself?https://corporateauthenticity.net/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself/
https://corporateauthenticity.net/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself/#commentsThu, 18 Dec 2014 18:53:01 +0000http://corporateauthenticity.net/?p=240At a networking lunch event an insurance business owner was complaining about how the market crises and the new governmental health policies have been screwing up his business in the last 4 to 5 years… he went on saying how difficult it is these days to sell a health insurance, a house insurance or even a car insurance for in today´s world clients care only about price having no interest in quality or reliable service.

-… There is no loyalty anymore! he said, – And with small businesses disappearing in a daily basis it is getting harder and harder to sell insurance to the business field and that used to be an important market for me… He was really upset about his situation and worried about his future.

As a Career and Authentic Personal Brand coach, I am naturally interested in people and having an extensive experience in the corporate world I couldn´t help asking…

-… So, if the market changed that much what are you doing different to promote your business and your products/services in this new environment?

He looked at me as if I had just arrived from Mars and said:

– There is nothing I or anyone can do, you don´t understand… this is a cycle and until this comes up again there is nothing we can do!

I didn´t want to be unpleasant but I had to know more… so I asked in a very kind and compassionate way:

– If this is a cycle and it will take time to recover, how long are you willing to wait? How long can your business hold?

He looked at me and after recognizing a genuine and sincere concern for his situation he answered: – I don´t know…

I went on a little further… – If this will take a long time to recover and you don´t foresee any positive evolution in the next few years have you thought of doing something else?

He answered: – No, I haven´t.

I continued: – Maybe applying all your knowledge, your contacts, your experience in a different business model?

He answered again: – No, I haven´t thought about any of that.

I said: What about your exit plan? Would now be a good moment to launch it?

He answered very slowly: – I don´t have an exit plan… and he added also very slowly…you ask very good questions…

The quality of your own questions will determine the success of your business and the fulfillment of your life. If you get to a place where you keep repeating the same pattern in life and the results are not what you want…. ask yourself different questions or… get a Coach to do that for you!